Modern House Magazine » Web Roundup

Green Roofs from Examiner

MHM Contributing Staff — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:53:39 +0000

81 Weatherby – the upper stratosphere of Green Building, beyond LEED

I met Jeff Demetriou, LEED AP, last Thursday to interview him for a feature story I am working on about green roofs in Atlanta. He gave me a tour of 81 Weatherby, a home he recently developed in Reynoldstown, a community in east Atlanta. This perfect specimen of modern architecture is a 2800 square foot single family home built upon Demetriou’s philosophy about building development. Demetriou believes in order to be truly modern one must not only embrace the forward thinking designs and aesthetics of the day, but he or she must also adopt the progressive and positive cultural, societal, ethical, and environmental ideals as well.

Read Complete Story in Examiner.com

CA Boom Design Show from PRNews

MHM Contributing Staff — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:28:10 +0000

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire/ — The CA Boom Design Show (www.caboomshow.com) is North America’s only multi-discipline non-traditional design trade fair exhibition combining the highest caliber of architects, designers and design manufacturers on the west coast. The show brings together the best of modern and contemporary design and architecture in a unique exhibit, conference, and tour format. A favorite place for incubating companies and products to make their debuts, the show draws both the design trade and design savvy consumer, and has become a must-attend event for specifiers of quality design and architecture.

Read the Complete Story in PRNews.

Palm Springs Architecture – from AZCentral

MHM Contributing Staff — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:57:28 +0000

Palm Springs Calif. – The war was over, the economy was picking up and people were optimistic. A fearless sense of “Why not?” sparked creativity in the design world in the 1950s and ’60s. Why not build a house of steel? Why not make the walls curved?

The new ideas influenced everything from airport terminals to living-room lamps. And the desert town of Palm Springs became a magnet for Modernist architecture and design. Big stars like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope embraced the new look in their desert getaways.

Half a century later, design-lovers are still flocking to Palm Springs to take in all the Modernism.

Read Complete Story in AZCentral.com.

Solar Powered City from Time

MHM Contributing Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:17:47 +0000

An NFL lineman turned visionary developer today is unveiling startlingly ambitious plans for a solar-powered city of tomorrow in southwest Florida’s outback, featuring the world’s largest photovoltaic solar plant, a truly smart power grid, recharging stations for electric vehicles and a variety of other green innovations. The community of Babcock Ranch is designed to break new frontiers in sustainable development, quite a shift for a state that has never been sustainable and lately hasn’t had much development.

Read the Complete Story in Time.

Pull The Plug from Canada.com

MHM Contributing Staff — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:04:13 +0000

The magpie in all of us cannot help but love shiny new green goods and gadgets. They appeal to our desire for, and faith in, technological innovation, and companies and popular media tout their ability to alleviate the various ills and crises besieging our world. The more complicated the technology, the more effective we often presume it to be.

Last year Paul Makov-sky wrote in Metropolis magazine: “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a bit frustrated with a lot of ‘green’ architecture lately — you know, the kinds of buildings that focus on the checklist approach, substituting technical wizardry for simpler, time-honoured principles.”

Read the Complete Story in Canada.com.

Going Green Expensive from SunSentinel

MHM Contributing Staff — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:43:29 +0000

Kris Adam takes pride in the energy-efficient lights, recycled-bottle countertop and soy-based paint that helped his Pizza Fusion restaurant in Weston earn certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

But if he opens another pizzeria, he may skip the time, money and effort to get those eco-features approved under the Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

“I’d probably build the same, but leave out the certification,” Adam said. “They’re going to have to make it easier and less expensive.”

Read Complete Story in Sun Sentinel.

Passion For Modern from Detroit Free Press

MHM Contributing Staff — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:55:21 +0000

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — It’s not as if they were in the market for a second home. They already had one in sunny Hilton Head, S.C. So when Jim Coffou pulled the car over to ask his wife, “What would you think about selling the place in Hilton Head and building in Michigan City?” Sara Coffou was confused. “Why would I want a second home an hour away from where I live, in a climate identical to the one where I live, in the-middle-of-nowhere Indiana?” she asked.

Read the Complete Story in Detroit Free Press.

Panasonic Eco House from JCN Network

MHM Contributing Staff — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:02:17 +0000

Osaka, Mar 18, 2009 – (JCN Newswire) – Panasonic Corporation today announced its plan to open an eco-themed showroom called Eco Ideas House on the premises of Panasonic Center Tokyo, a corporate global communication platform of the Panasonic Group. The new facility combines Panasonic’s advanced technologies for saving, creating, and storing energy, and utilizes natural elements of wind, light, water and heat to showcase a green lifestyle with virtually zero CO2 emissions in the House as a whole. The House is scheduled to open to the public on weekends and holidays starting April 18th, 2009.

Read Complete Story in JCN.

Marmol Radziner Modular from ArchitectureWeek

MHM Contributing Staff — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:24:24 +0000

The Rincon 5 by Los Angeles firm Marmol Radziner recalls the pristine residential architecture of Mies van der Rohe, though this guest house may have more in common with the humble American mobile home.

The modular building exemplifies Marmol Radziner’s clean-lined contemporary design as applied to pragmatic, affordable prefab housing. It is one of a growing number of dwellings that have been designed, fabricated, and built by the architect-led practice — an unusual combination in even the most progressive segments of the building industry.

Read Complete Story in ArcitectureWeek.

Michelle Obama On The Mall – Huffington Post

MHM Contributing Staff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:04:07 +0000

The Mall activities were split between putting up a frame for a ‘green’ home and a “Green Academy” in a neighboring tent. In the “Academy”, YouthBuild members and others had activities related to green building, green-collar jobs, green schools, energy responsibility, and environmental awareness.

The YouthBuild team will not be alone on the Mall. First Lady Michelle Obama joined the effort, bringing visibility to the expanding program and, we hope, to its shift toward a ‘greener’ approach in line with the Green Jobs focus. And, Members of Congress (such as Senator John Kerry and Representative John Lewis) will also join the effort.

Read Complete Story in Huffington Post.